Filling in Losses in Parchment Bound Volumes – Part I: Assessment of Parchment and Paper Fibres in Reconstituted Parchment

Abstract

AbstractReconstituted parchment is, besides Japanese paper and parchment, a feasible and widely used material for filling in losses in parchment. This study investigates changes in haptic and visual qualities of the material caused by modifications with different ingredients like paper and parchment fibres. Additionally, selected procedures processing parchment to parchment powder were examined. As a brief introduction, the paper gives an overview over the existing types of reconstituted parchment that are used traditionally in parchment conservation. In addition it attempts to clarify the terminology for this material. Parchment powder was produced with simple and readily available equipment, by different methods: sanding, grating, grinding, shredding, milling and ice-crushing. The different types of home-made powder were compared to a pre-fabricated parchment powder obtained from a parchment maker. The test series showed that the type of preparation of parchment powder influences the fibre texture which in turn affects the material’s properties visually and haptically. While all methods are clearly more time-consuming than buying ready-to-use material, some preparations, e.g. grating, shredding and ice-crushing, showed superior properties.